Broken Mirrors
by Koji
Summary: After Marlin confesses everything to Dory, she's left alone again. Knowing the cheery character she once was, and the short term memories she has, Dory forgets everything about him, Nemo and herself. Lots of angst and Dorlin
1. Prologue: Tearing Away My Dearest

**Finding Nemo; Broken Mirrors  
By Koji**

**Declaimers:** All the fish characters are copyrighted to Pixar Studio. The story was inspired by and is the collaboration of the Finding Nemo Board Members! *thumbs up*

**Author's Note:** *takes a deep breath*  _ I shouldn't even say anything, after I had this conversation with Sa about how I am too cautious and ended up lying when I tried to be nice to others; Kinda sounds like Marlin being overprotective with Nemo, only that I'm too careful with my friends' feelings. ^__^  _

THANKS A BUNCH to everybody who reviewed! You all rock! Arigato! *hugs* I've decided to continue my fic "I See Her Reflection in You," seeing how it just ended so abruptly….TT_TT This picks up right after the last chapter So……….enjoy!!.

Btw, Jedi drew a scene pic to the last chapter and it made me TT_TT. Thanks Jedi!]

'_____' are thoughts, ("____") are talking of the dead and _italics _are things that happened in the past or are flashbacks. 

**Warning**, the story will have MAJOR angst!  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Prologue; Tearing Away My Dearest Treasure **

  
For a moment--for a split second, her pleading eyes were still reaching out for his drifting body, ("I'm sorry…") with his glassy eyes that would see her for the last time, as he sunk deeper and deeper into the empty abyss of the ocean. But that heartbreaking image of her wouldn't leave him. ("Forgive me….") He whispered to her, even if he knew she couldn't hear him. ("Dory….") He could see her trembling fin holding out for him moving further and further away, as her tears streamed out like an endless river….but he knew he couldn't take her fin. He didn't want to leave her behind. The thought of her being alone was enough to keep him alive, but…..

As heart-broken as she was--no matter how much he wanted to--he knew he couldn't take Dory into his own fins and tell her he would be with her forever. 

It was the end. 

He knew his heart would come to a stop soon, and that hers would too if he had left. ("I'm sorry…..")  But he had no choice, seeing how fate had intervened, tore them apart, and denied him from being with her. ("..for everything I have done...,")  His heavy eyelids gradually fell, until they were closed completely. ("Dory….")

~*~*~  
"No…." she begged in fear, in denial. Dory quickly grabbed him in mid-water, with terror still shaking her body, "…don't….." still pleading for him to stay, as she placed his limp body on a nearby cliff, lightly touching the rough surface until his body lay silently still, eyes sealed, with sign of life, "please…." The red mist continued clouding the waters with his last drop of blood. "No…please don't--!" It wouldn't stop. The crimson fluid flowing out from his torn tail wouldn't stop. "I beg you…!" 

In all her life, "no…." her happiest moment; the one thing that mattered to her the most, had just brushed by her, "you can't, please--!" As fast as it had shattered in front of her like a mirror she had always looked into for a place of belongingness, "you can't be gone!!!!" Dory cried out in despair, collapsing onto the deceased clownfish.

~*~*~

Time knows how long Dory hadn't stirred. She was still there on the side of the cliff, holding him tightly, since it was the only thing she could do at the moment to keep herself together. 

The sun had vanished from the ocean surface and with it, all the lights that brought her life the joy of laughter. Dory had been weeping uncontrollably, while darkness surrounded the blue tang and only the ghostly whistling of the waves could be heard in the midst of the night. 

His voice wouldn't leave her as she caressed his bruised face. She could hear his voice that had left her behind, _"But you...you're Dory…"_ that played in her head again and again, _"…you're too lively…too pure_ _…too innocent to be rejected…" _like a broken record in the murky rain.

Her trembling dorsal fin gently brushed against his dirt-stained cheeks, still not believing that these were words coming from someone who was beside her just a moment ago. But now they were gone.__

It was gone, and it didn't matter. Nothing mattered. Nothing could change what was happening to her. Nothing could bring him back. He was gone.

Marlin was gone….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm sorry it's so short, guys! This is the ending part the first fanfic and the prologue to this sequel. ACK! Took me days to get this one done! Thank you to everybody and their ideas! You all really helped me out!   
What will happen to Dory now? I need to think of the rest. _;;;;; *think think*...


	2. I Can’t Let Go of You, Because I Don’t W...

**Declaimers:** All the fish characters are copyrighted to Pixar Studio. The story was inspired by and is the collaboration of the Finding Nemo Board Members! *thumbs up*

**Author's Note:** 'kay *sigh out of exhaustion* I'm done!!! *drops dead*  
*waves a hand while on the floor* '_____' are thoughts, ("____") are talking of the dead. I'm fine..... Enjoy!  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Chapter 1; I Can't Let Go of You, Because I Don't Want to Forget.**

"Dory?" Bubbles called, sounding very worried, "Dory?" much like the rest of tank gang, who had gathered together to comfort the depressed blue tang. Days had past by like the dull waves continuously moving in and out along the sea shore. Dory had been wasting herself away as she kept on staring out into the open waters emotionlessly, and muttering random words no one really understood.

"Sweety, you need to eat something." Peach asked her softly, but Dory didn't move from her spot between two soft corals. She hadn't eaten much, swam to anywhere else, except away from the sponge cliff. She hadn't even shown much of a response to anybody, no matter what they tried. 

"Just do it," Bloat begged as he held out the food to her, "for us?" while Gurgle swam up next to him.

"For Marlin?" Gurgle added, hoping it would make her feel better, but it only shoved Dory's face buried under the sand. Bloat lightly smacked Gurgle in the face, eying sarcastically "Nice going, Gurgle," at the royal gamma.

"Well, I didn't mean to-!"   
"Yeah, well, be more car--

"I am!"

"No, you're not!"

"Am too!"

"Are not!"

Bloat and Gurgle were shooting offended glares at each other, while Dory slowly swam away from her spot and just floated there for couple of seconds. Gill shot an annoyed impression asking, "Guys, just drop it for now," and Bloat and Gurgle immediately stopped arguing.

"Hey Dory?" Bubbles tried again to get her attention. Still, she wasn't responding. 

Gill noticed how her sleepy eyes were still filled with that blank stare, a depressed and saddened gaze that was robed from emotions. Dory was in a horrible shape. Her eyes were swollen red with tears and mouth slightly dropped open for breathing. She seemed like she had aged more than 10 years. It almost felt creepy seeing her, as if she was an undead zombie. 

Dory couldn't be blamed. After tearing away her most precious treasure, Dory had become like a ghost that lingered on the ocean floor. She was there with the gang in the Great Barrier Reef, but her mind wondered off someplace else she could never remember.

 "Doooooooooooooory?" Deb called out to her, waving her fin in front of her. "Please try to smile?" and frowned at how she also couldn't cheer her up either.

"Oh hi!" She happily blurted out suddenly, "I'm Dory!" 

"Wha—?!" her sudden outburst nearly scared the tank gang white.

"Can I help you?" All of the sudden, she began swimming around in circles, like she was her normal playful self, but—"Oh, I mean to say that--"

"Dory!" Gill quickly swam up to her in panic. "Dory, get a hold of yourself!" gently shaking her some sense of reality.

"Yes, I'm a natural blue---" She uttered and smiled weakly, looking past Gill and again into the open waters with that eerie blank stare, as she kept on rambling like she was broken machine. 

"Oh my goodness…." Peach could only watch in horror. 

"The sea monkey stole my money…." She had lost it.

"Dory!!!" Gill shook her once more. "Can you hear me?! Come on', snap out of it!" 

"Hey. Who are you?" She loosely swirled around in Gill's grasp, looking at every member of the tank gang. "And you, and you? Who might you be, eh?" she laughed. 

"It's us! The tank gang, " but she just laughed innocently. 

"Oh. how nice….," she sweetly replied. It was horrible! Insane! Dory had gone insane! In a sense she was her normal self again, but that wasn't true. This was not what's happening! Dory had lost every touch of reality! She couldn't tell friend from friend, not even fish from sharks!!

The day after, Dory swam out into the open water, dancing around singing her preppy song, while a mako shark nearly swallowed her up for dinner! 

But it became worse……

The days following that, "You know, I speak Whale." Dory started talking to herself, "No! No! You don't! You're insane!" she shook her head to herself as she acted out another fish, "I have to get out!" Dory forcefully swam against a coral. "I have to find my son!" 

"Goodness! What are you doing?!" Gurgle begged. "Please stop!" He, Bloat, Jacques, and Bubbles struggled to keep Dory from hurting herself, but it seemed like she wasn't going to stop ramming into that coral.

From afar, Gill was sure that Dory was behaving like she was two different people. If you were able to split what Dory was doing into the behavior of two individuals, you could tell that one was her usual self and the other was that of an easily annoyed, yet kind charm. Deb had this feeling that Dory was desperately trying to replace someone; a person who wasn't by her side. What she just acted out seemed like a lost memory among her own little memories of a certain clownfish.

The tank gang hadn't left her side. They couldn't just leave her! They knew Dory was in a serious trauma. She was beyond sane reasoning from all the shock.

At times, Dory began seeing hallucinations, because she would just scream and point toward the open waters at something she believed to be seeing. She was simply going insane! Sure she was somewhat acting like her usual self, but everybody knew what was happening to her. 

Dory couldn't handle Marlin's death……

She just couldn't. She was too weak and innocent to face the truth. Every time she talked, her eyes seemed so distance as if she was looking at something she believed was there, but wasn't. 

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" she shrieked, "Barracuda!!!!" Everyone except Peach and Gill spun around frightened in the direction Dory pointed.

"Listen!" Gill was barely able to keep himself from panicking, while Bubbles, Deb, Bloat and Gurgle desperately tried to hold Dory still. "I need you to listen to me—to us!" She was trembling like she was about to lose the last strand of sanity.

But it only seemed natural, even ironic. Here they have a blue tang by the name of Dory. She suffered from short memory and yet she was a happy character. But she remembered how she had survived an attack by two ferocious barracudas at the cost of her friend's life. "Gone….." So how was it even possible that she wasn't going to die mentally?! "IT WAS MY FAULT!!!!" How could Dory survive with all the guilt she carried?! 

Gill noticed how she was breathing frantically. "Calm down." No matter how many times he tried to tell Dory that whatever she was seeing--whatever that was happening to her right now--that it was all just in her mind, it didn't stop the madness that was eating her away. 

"There! She's doing it again!" Gurgle quickly hid behind Bloat, afraid that Dory's insanity would possess her. 

"I don't want to forget….." she whimpered. Dory seemed like she was going to die from all the grief. "I don't—"

"There's nothing! IT'S ALL IN YOUR MIND!"

"NO!!!" Dory just violently shoved Gill and rest away from her and immediately dashed off.

They shouted simultaneously for her to come back, but she had already disappeared into the dark. 

Dory was alive out there somewhere, but no matter where she was; she was dead on the inside. The tank gang was at a lost. "What are we going to do?" Peach asked hopelessly. Gill suddenly felt anger rising in him.

"I hope you're happy now.....!" Gill snapped at the waters, "I hope you're happy about what you have done to her, Marlin!" 

"Gill? Are you okay? "

"All you have ever done was hurt everybody!!" he yelled out in fury. "First, Nemo--" he spun to the side in disgust and pain, "and now Dory! You think you can just run away by getting yourself killed?!"

("What will you do now?" a scratchy voice echoed.)

"Gill! You can't think like thi—" the rest of the gang barely managed to keep Gill from going berserk. 

"Go ahead and bite the seaweed!" Gill exclaimed furiously.

("………………" he remained silent while he took in Gill's rage.)

The situation was clear as crystal. Every fish was affected by his death. But Dory couldn't let go of him…..or maybe she didn't want to forget…

("What will you do now after you've realized she's miserable because of you?" the voice asked again. At first, no words replied. 

(He sighed helplessly, "I---I don't know…" He was filled with remorse worse than before as he watched the crying Dory vanish into the depths of the sea. "I-I really don't know…")

("Are you—are you really just going to leave her like this?" a younger voice pleaded. He turned toward his son, "She's your friend, dad!")

("You don't want to leave her, do you?")

Despite all the agony Dory had to carry, maybe she didn't want to forget Marlin…

("There's no way I will be able to rest in peace," he shook his head, "knowing how much I had hurt Dory," he admitted, pouring out his guilt)

("There's nothing you can do.")

("But-What's going to happen to Dory? What will—")

("She's going to leave the reef in the next 24 hours." He knew very well the voice didn't mean that Dory was going to move to some place else in the ocean. He feared the worse for her, and he was right. Dory was going to lose herself completely by the tomorrow night. "And even if she might see you again," that last remark struck him with terror, "she wouldn't be the same fish after death,")

("But why?")

("Because she would live death as a ghost with no speck of memory, and the trauma she had experienced when she was alive." 

("What does that mean, dad?" his son asked curious but frightened. "What's going to happen to Dory?")

(He knew what awaited her. Dory was going to become a lost soul with no memories or emotions. "I can't--I can't just leave Dory like this!!)"

("I already said that there's nothing you can do.")

("I'm won't let Dory--!") 

("You're gone!" the voice spat at his face. "You're dead, Marlin." He uttered slowly enough to make the words sink into his brain. "You can't do anything for her anymore…")

(It completely paralyzed Marlin, freezing him right before he was going to convince himself that there must've been a way he could save Dory. There has to be! There has to be something he could do to prevent her cruel fate from making its turn! )

("She doesn't deserve this!" He yelled out in defense, "Dory's just an innocent fish!" But the Grim Reaper's aggravated silence was enough to shove the truth against Marlin's futile attempt to stop Dory's life from ticking away. "Nothing….there's nothing I can do, huh?" Marlin wondered with suspicion while Nemo tightly held onto him for comfort. 'I'll find a way, Dory. Just…….just wait for me….')

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
I went insane myself writing this! I even had nightmares about this!!! TT_TT shoot.....I hope at least this time, I didn't went out of character. 


	3. Faint Dreams and Memories of You

**Declaimers:** All the fish characters are copyrighted to Pixar Studio. The story was inspired by and is the collaboration of the Finding Nemo Board Members! *thumbs up*

**Author's Note:** Alright, I know for sure that I've got tons of things stolen from somebody. I swear, I thought of these on my own! But the ideas I get are usually always, always a mix or part of somebody's work. So then what can be claimed original? Nothing really. That's what I call influence and motivation. ^__^  The only thing I can claim is that I put this together, unleashing my screwy mind while listening to a pack of sad stricken songs. TT_TT  So then, before someone sues my behind and hates me forever, let me give credit and ideas I got from: lol

*Squishy's _Blue Water Lilies_ and Marie's _All You Wanted --The little romance scenery/scene above the ocean surface___

If you think this chapter is similar to Beauty and the Beast and the Lion King, then go ahead. I did not intend to make it similar. But I thought it was cute of Dory to ask these questions about stars, because it does link together with the story as it goes. Please enjoy this chapter, I know I did ^_~. Thanks Solita and Sa-chan for reviewing *hugs* and don't worry, if the humanoids show up, you'll get plenty of credit. 

Although this is a flashback, I'm not going to italicize this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Chapter 2; Faint Dreams and Memories of You**

The Great Barrier Reef never seemed as beautiful as it did now. The frail sun rays shone through the ever rising waves of the ocean, like little angels of light dancing across the ocean floor. But deep down among the lively scenery of the coral reef lay an exhausted Dory against the soft sands she had made inside her crevice. She glanced outside at the illuminated reef from a little opening inside her home. At least, she assumed the lights were little angels, but, _"There's nothing!" The voice of Gill reminded her, "_IT'S ALL IN YOUR MIND!" _Everything was just an illusion. It was night, and there was no heavenly light shimmering across the ocean floor. It was dark outside and quiet as a graveyard while the tall seaweed swayed along with the currents. _

Dory just lay there, silently still on her side, dully staring straight at the wall of her little cave. She felt so weak, so extremely tired, and so worthlessly empty. She looked like an emotionless puppet. Ever since her mind went insane and started playing tricks on her, she didn't know what to believe anymore. Who the tang gang was, what predators meant, where and who she was. But it didn't matter. It meant nothing to Dory if life had already disappeared in her when Nemo and Marlin had died.

Her mind swirled and grew heavy from all the fatigue that had been plaguing her soul. Dory was already too tired to carry on conversations with herself. She could've just kept on staring if her body didn't force her to get some rest. Would she actually—could she truly believe that Marlin was still alive? That's what she wanted to believe, but she knew—she knew it couldn't be true after all the blood she saw. She shuddered at the thought and huddled against the sand. That's when Dory noticed a little pearl laying near the center of her cave. 

Somehow, in some strange way, that pearl gave her enough strength to touch her memories. It felt awkward, but the longer Dory kept looking at that tiny pearl, the more and more she felt her sorrow ease away. As the moonlight shone through the little circular opening in the ceiling the pearl gave off a brilliant sparkle, the same soft celestial glittering, when Marlin gave this peachy jewel of the sea to her. Maybe that's why she found tranquility in that pearl.

"I'm won't forget this time…." she promised weakly as her sleepy eyelids fell, "that sweet expression you made when I showed you." She wrapped her fins around the pearl, still mumbling Marlin's name as she drifted off into deep sleep. 

When darkness surrounded her, she felt her head become hollow, free from all the painful thoughts and anxiety. Her body felt like it was floating, with no weight of misery to drag her down. And in the back of her ear, she could pick up a voice, as memories of the past flooded into her dreams. 

~*~*~Dream/Flashback~*~*~

"Dory!" someone called out to her sounding a little upset. She was simply twisting and turning curves as she kept on swimming. "Wait up!" He asked her to slow down. Everyone was already sleeping soundly in their homes. It was already quiet and dark outside, as Dory swam alongside with Marlin. "Slow down." He yawned tiredly, "Where are you taking me at this time of the hour?"

"You'll see," Dory smiled sweetly and eagerly picked up her pace as she swam toward the surface. 

"Um…Dory? I don't think—" 

"It'll be okay," she assured him. "You have to see it!" Dory jumped with excitement like she was Nemo, who couldn't wait to tell his dad. Marlin sighed and somewhat reluctantly gave in. He just couldn't break that cute smile of hers if he refused to swim to surface. Despite the dangers that might wait ahead, "I guess, I can risk this once."

"Oh come'on. You gotta lighten up more."

"You mean," he quickly stopped, "like this?" Marlin playfully re-acted the event where both of them were trapped in the dark abyss, where a casual Dory leisurely read the mask label as if she had all the time in the world, while he was playing "Catch me if you can, Death!" with some monstrous anglerfish, "I—uh…leave that part about being lightened up to you."

"Heeeeeeey! What's that supposed to mean?" she looked at Marlin skeptically. "It wasn't that bad." She watched him swim past her, "You're pretty fast so—"

"Right!" He grinned, "So, you better hurry before I get to the surface first!" and swam off.

"You wanna bet, old man? " Dory jumped playfully and dashed after him toward the surface. 

"So what is it that you want to show me?" he yawned again.

"It will take your breath away!" Indeed it did, quite literally actually. The beautiful scenery that awaited them on the ocean surface did steal his breath away. 

"Dory…" he whispered in awe at the millions of tiny sparkling diamonds that flashed behind a translucent curtain of colors known at the northern lights. "How—?" It was quite unusual to see these lights in southern hemisphere, and on top of that still far away from the earth's poles. But for some terrestrial reason, the solar flares were shining with vibrant colors over the ocean surface. He was so amazed, so captivated by their beauty. Dory felt happy to have him showed this.

"Isn't it pretty?" She cheered, clasping her fins together.

"Yeah…." he replied softly while the transparent colors swayed in the sky. "How—how did you know about this, Dory?" She simply shrugged.

"Dunno. I forgot where I was going tonight and here I was." Marlin let out a light chuckle at Dory's famous short term memory issue, and they silently watched nature's beauty for a couple of minutes.

"Say, Marlin?" 

"Hmm?"

"What are—" her curious fin pointed toward the sky, "what are those tiny white twinkling things behind the colors?" 

"Those are called stars, Dory."

"Stars?" 

"Yep, stars," he repeated slowly. 

"They' re so…..pretty," she commented, mesmerized by their sparkling beauty.

"Yeah,…" Marlin muttered, letting his subconscious slip though his words, "and somewhere….somewhere above where these stars are, that's where you're watching Nemo from, aren't you?"

"Eh?" 

Marlin snapped out of his trance. "Wha-? Oh, sorry, I was talking to myself," he frowned as Dory watched him from the corner of her eye, a little concerned. He was thinking of Coral again. Why out of all times did he think of her now? 'Oh Coral…' He felt so weak without her, so lonely and empty, but he was bound to watch over his son without her. He had to continue living for Nemo and he did. There was never a day when Marlin didn't think of his deceased wife, 'I wish you could see this, Coral...' but it's in the past now and—

"So…umm…what do these stars do?" Dory interrupted unintentionally him through curiosity. Marlin stared at Dory for a while, into those big bright cherry-red, innocent and cute eyes of hers that could drive away any loneliness.

That's right. He met Dory while he journeyed across the vast ocean in search for his dear son. Coral and all the remaining children he could have raised with her had past away a long time ago. She wouldn't want him to be sad or bind himself to dreams that couldn't come true. Coral left Nemo for him. Nemo was with him…..and so was Dory.

"Well….I …I don't really know what stars do, Dory." He spotted a bright star in the distant and remembered the time when he longed for the stars once, on the night where he held the single egg of Nemo in his anxious fins. "I—I look at them for comfort, sometimes even for hope." Dory seemed confused. "Like—" he thought of ways to explain, "it—it's like you're being watched." 

She freaked out, "Oh my gosh! We're being watched?!" She nervously spun in every direction, including below and above, and whipped around with her back at him, blushing all of the sudden.

"No-no! It's not like someone is watching us right now! " He hastily explained, trying to calm her jumpy personality. " I mean, " he slowed down, "I mean, it's something like, someone you don't see anymore is watching over you, "and softened his paste, "making sure that you're not alone anymore, "he still felt like he didn't explain well what stars meant, "Som—Sometimes they even grant wishes," Marlin quickly added to change the topic.

"They do?" Dory turned around interested.

"Well, sometimes, "he smiled sheepishly, "but only when you see a shooting star, then--"

"AHH! There's someone out there who's shooting stars?!" she panicked and immediately embraced Marlin in a tight hug, frightened, "Those poor—"

"No, not star shooters, Dory!" He teasingly corrected her, "Shooting stars!" She was still hugging him and that really made him uneasy, "The—they are stars, that shoot across the sky leaving this bright tail of light behind them. It—it's nothing bad, really!" 

"But, if they fall, then how do they grant wishes?" Dory let go of Marlin.

"Um….that's a mystery to me too, " he replied embarrassed. "Nemo asked me the same thing and—ah I forgot! Nemo! I—I have to get back and--" She didn't know what came over her, but Dory quickly grabbed Marlin by his dorsal fin before he could swim back down. He looked at her surprised at why she was holding him back—well, actually why she was holding his fin so desperately.

"Uh….Dory?"

"Um…sorry about this, "she apologized and released him. Her voice began to stutter, "I-I-I know you're worried about, "she knew she was going to get his name wrong again, but she wanted Marlin so stay. "I know you're worried about your son. And—and I understand—I do, but—" she stopped again at the end of her sentence. Dory was really nervous now, even blushing in front of him. At first, Marlin was a clueless as he watched Dory struggle for words, even forgetting what she wanted to say. God, did she hate her short term memory problem! "I'm sure he's fine. And, well--"

"You're right, " Marlin complied, "I still worry too much, don't I?" Dory was unable to reply since she was caught up in a fight against the little butterflies that were fluttering in her stomach, but somehow, she was feeling sad now. The northern lights slowly faded into the cool atmosphere until only the countless stars remained shining in the sky as did their mirror reflections on the water surface. It seemed like the whole universe was visible right now. Large groups of random fading and bright twinkling stars were shining across and above the dark-blue horizon.

"I'm sorry, " Marlin noticed the change in Dory's mood, "I'm sorry for dumping everything on you, but—"

"Dory?" 

"I—I had always wished…," Dory's voice seemed like it was about to break from the years of sadness trapped inside her, "I had always wished I wasn't so forgetful, "and gradually, one by one, Marlin saw drops of tears fall into the waters. "I can't remember anything anymore! Even if I was next to somebody, I kept forgetting. No matter how hard I try, I always forget! Nobody cares—I don't really mind—really, but I could never be accepted, because of this stupid memory—!

"Dory…."

"I'M ALWAYS ALONE!" She burst out, confessing her sorrow, weeping uncontrollably, "Sometimes—sometimes I just can't stand forgetting things anymore!" She felt so pathetic, so weak and alone, like a little girl who couldn't escape from this forsaken curse. Marlin could only pity her. He wanted to hold her. He wanted to embrace her and comfort her for almost anything in the world right now. Just a comforting hug—just a single hug was enough to tell her that _he cared for her, but something told him not to, not yet at least. But was there more he could have done for Dory?_

Eventually Dory and Marlin left the celestial scenery and returned to the coral reef. It was still night time and Marlin swam ahead of Dory. While they slowly moved closer to the ocean bottom she was still fighting back the tears of agony. Then, Marlin came to stop, with his back still to her.

"Close your eyes," he muttered. Dory sniffed and wondered what he meant, but she did as she was told. She jerked at first when Marlin gently took her fin, and slowly lead the way for her. What was he doing and where was he leading her? "Don't peek, okay?" She nodded and let herself be guided by Marlin.

They had been swimming for some time, and Dory had her eyes closed for a while now that she grew a little impatient, actually nervous for not being able to see. She was still feeling depressed and thought of striking up a conversation instead to get her mind off of it. 

"Hey, Marlin?" She broke the silence, "When—when you said that if you see a shooting star, you can make a wish, right?"

"Not any wish can come true, Dory." 

"Did you make a wish? Did—did your wish come true?"

"Star wishes can't be shared with others," she frowned in disappointment, "but mine has come true, so I don't mind telling," Dory smiled a little. She felt Marlin stop somewhere and imagined him facing her, since she still couldn't see anything, but she sensed the sadness in Marlin's voice.  
"When my wife, Coral died, I—I wished that nothing would ever happen to Nemo, "he paused. "I also wished that I would have enough strength to face any distress that might befall on me or Nemo. And if I ever was too weak to carry on," Dory felt the pain slowly leaving her heart, "I wished I'd meet a little angel to help me find him." It was silent now, and Dory sensed that Marlin left her side for something. "Now, hold your fins out," she obeyed and something smooth and round was placed onto her fins, "You can open your eyes now."

As soon as Dory traced her eyes towards her fins, she was welcomed by a brilliant shine given off a tiny pearl. But this pearl, it was different from the regular ones. With the moonlight illuminating the jewel, Dory felt like she was seeing the same pretty stars she had seen above the surface, inside the glassy pearl. "Marlin…"

"You're not alone Dory, you'll never be," Marlin whispered lovingly, "You're a very dear friend to me, so no matter what happens from now on, don't forget what I just said."

Dory wiped the tears aside, sniffed and slowly began smiling at the transparent stars that shined within the special pearl.

"Please don't ever be sad, Dory. I'll always be here for you."

~*~*~End of the Dream ~*~*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Kyuuuuuuhh!! This is my best chapter ever! I'm so proud of this chapter! ^__^ Why? Because I was never able to draw out emotions like this before while at the same time having to deal with making sure that the characters don't go out of their personality! *phew*  I love this chapter! It's so cute, but somewhere in the back of my skull, I can tell there are plenty of things wrong with this! BAH! I hate writing! _;;; *sulks* I really hate myself now! I never stick to plans or outlines. All of the sudden I just write way out of topic and here I am off promising to others things I was SUPPOSED to write. (sorry, Sa!) _  I don't know anymore…


End file.
